Catch of the day

[DocRick]

[DocRick]

But you have to make sure she isn't too small to keep.......

[jeffrey-dallas]

Unfortunately, we won't find that at Long John Silvers or Red Lobster...

[LittleNikki]

I'm loving that look on her face!

[DocRick]

I'm loving that look on her face!

She does have that unmistakable "Oh, Shit" look.

[LittleNikki]

I'm loving that look on her face!

She does have that unmistakable "Oh, Shit" look.

Indeed. That look and her situation pulled a weird little story from my imagination.

[DocRick]

I'm loving that look on her face!

She does have that unmistakable "Oh, Shit" look.

Indeed. That look and her situation pulled a weird little story from my imagination.

Start typing.....

[LittleNikki]

She does have that unmistakable "Oh, Shit" look.

Indeed. That look and her situation pulled a weird little story from my imagination.

Start typing.....

As you wish ':)

----------------------------------------------------

The Pool of Wishes, Part I

On the official government map it was listed as Lake Naĝejomondoj. Naĝejomondoj was a phrase from the language of the indigenous people who had originally inhabited the area, The scholars usually translated it as "Pool of Wishes," though a more accurate translation would have been "Pool of Worlds."

Lake Naĝejomondoj was too small to be a lake, and its banks too overgrown to be a pool. It would be more accurate to say that the spring fed body of water was a large piond. The locals called it Evans pond, since it was wholly located on the Evans farm,

Local legend said that if you made a wish on a falling star on the banks of Evans Pond, the wish would come true. For the most part, the Evans keep the pond closed off to the public, but allowed the local chamber of commerce to use it for fundraising on Valentine's Day and forecasted meteor showers, with the caveat that they clean up after themselves.

Eighteen year old Daryl Evans, a senior at the local high, had mixed feelings about the legend of the family pond. His father and mother were, politely put, skeptics,

Daryl's grandfather, though, had been a firm believer in the pond's wishing abilities. When Daryl's grandfather had passed, he had left his grandson all sorts of things the pond had given the grandfather.

There was a strange toy sailing boat that looked nothing like any boat in the world. And Daryl had spent a whole Saturday in the big public library in Union City, trying to find a match in their books, Daryl never could, though.

There was a strange square iron coin as big as Daryl's fist (and Daryl was a big farm boy). Then there was...well, safe to say, there were a lot of odd, interesting things in the collection Daryl had inherited.

Daryl's parents told him that none of these objects came from the pond. They pointed out that Daryl's grandfather had been a junior naval officer in his youth, and had served in the Great White Fleet when it had toured the world. Daryl's parents explained that all the "trinkets" Daryl's grandfather had left him weren't artifacts from the pond. They were souvenirs from his grandfather's travels.

Daryl pretended to accept his parents' explanation, but he knew better. The things his grandfather had left him weren't props for tall tales, They were wishes the pond had granted.

His grandfather had explained that the wishes weren't granted at night. They were granted in the morning after a moonless night, when the stars had been configured just right. He also said that it didn't matter if there had been any shooting stars the night before. The important thing was that you were standing at the right spot, at the right time, and that the night sky the night before was just right.

"Be careful what you wish for," Daryl's grandfather had advised him. "It could limit what the pond brings you. It's better just to keep your mind open and let the pond decide what it's going to bring you."

So it was with trepidation that Daryl stood on the pond's shore one morning. Daryl tried to keep his mind a blank as he hoped that all the things his grandfather had told him weren't tall tales.

[DocRick]

[LittleNikki]

The Pool of Wishes, Part II

In his book Travels, the great explorer, geographer and historian Taxidotus referred to the great body of water by its ancient name of Límnikósmon. The geographer would inform his readers Límnikósmon translated to "pool of wishes." Though Taxidotus was a very learned man, in this case, he got the ancient translation wrong. Límnikósmon more accurately translated as "pool of worlds" in the ancient tongue.

Since that ancient language had long been dead, the great inland body of water had other names in modern times. It was referred to as the Apavatosian Sea by Imperial officials, after Apavatos, the biggest city on the Apavatosian sea. Locals referred to it either as Lesenasea (short for Lesena's Sea), or simply The Sea.

Taxidotus would argue that, although the Apavatosian Sea was indeed very large,since its contents were fresh water, it would be more accurate to call the body of water a lake, and not a sea. Taxidotus' logic not withstanding, the locals and the Empire continued referring to it as a sea.

The eastern shore of the Apavatosian Sea was home to one of the most inportant temples of Lesena, goddess of the moon and tides. Lesena was also a great huntress, and it was said that she killed the great Golden Hind on the shores of the Apavatosian sea (hence its name of Lesena's Sea among some).

It was on the morning after a moonless night that Diana, an eighteen year old acoloyte of Lesena, was standing on the very spot where it was said Lesena had killed the Golden Hind. Diana was looking out across the sea, wearing only the thinnest of undergarments, while comtemplating her future.

Diana was the daughter of a wealthy merchant who had given Diana into the care of the priestesses of Lesena, to insure Lesena's purity until she was married off.

Diana's father had recently arranged her marriage with an Imperial Senator, and was coming to withdraw her from the temple the day after tomorrow. But Diana didn't want to leave the temple. She loved the life she had here. Marriage to an elderly, corpulent Imperial nobleman was the last thing she wanted,

Which is why she was standing where she was, looking out across the sea. Legend had it that an acolyte who was once in a situation like Diana was in had prayed to Lesena for deliverance, then swam out into the sea. Legend said that Lesena granted the young acolyte's wish.

So Diana made her wish, that she could continue living a life of adventure. The young acolyte took a deep breat, then began wading out into the sea. As soon as the water was deep enough, Diana began swimming.

Besides being a great explorer, Taxidotus was also great philosopher and observer of the human condition. So he could have warned Diana to be careful what she wished for. She just might get it.

[DocRick]

Okay, this took a definitely different direction than I expected. Please, go on......

[LittleNikki]

Okay, this took a definitely different direction than I expected. Please, go on......

As I told you, "weird little story

--------------

The Pool of Wishes, Part III

Between the sun on the water, his eyes darting everywhere and a growing skepticism about his grandfather's stories about the pond, Daryl almost missed seeing the pond providing him a "granted wish."

Just a couple feet from where he was standing, there was an actual tiny person swimming in the water. A little person who looked like they could fit into the palm of his hand.

A tiny female person, Daryl's eyes informed him.

With a certain amound of trepidation, Daryl waded out a foot into the pond and scooped the tiny swimmer into his palm.

[LittleNikki]

The Pool of Wishes, Part IV

Other than the basic rules of etiquette, Diana's father had been indifferent to the education his daughter received from the priestesses while she was sequestered at the temple. The only thing Diana's father wanted from the priestesses was the guarantee that his daughter went to her marrriage bed a virgin.

The priestesses, however, did not shirk on the instruction of their young charge. They attempted to educate young Diana on a vaqriety of subjects. The priestesses included everything in their cirriculum, from alchemy to zeniths.

Truth be told, Diana excelled more in her physical instruction than her intellectual one. She was an avid swimmer and runner, and was as much a huntress as her patron goddess. But she did like reading and listening to stories. She especially liked hearing about all the monsters the hero encountered in the second half of the epic poem The Battle and the Journey Home..

There was one part in that tale where the hero has to sneak past a tribe of one eyed giants, all of whom would eat the hero if they caught him. Although it gave Diana little thrills of excitement when she heard that particular passage read, she did not believe there was a race of fifteen foot tall giants living on an island somewhere beyond the Imperial borders.

As Diana began swimming across the sea, she was momentarily blinded by a dazzling light dancing on the surface of the water around her. Confused and disoriented, Diana treaded water until she regained her vision,

That's when she found herself being scooped up in the palm of a giant. Not a giant who was fifteen feet tall, but one who was at least sixty foot tall!

Even though the face of the giant looking down at her was young, handsome and had two eyes, the passage in the epic poem concerning the one eyed giants came to Diana's mind. Diana was absolutely certain she was going to meet the same fate the epic's hero would have met, if he had not outwitted the giants.

Fortunate;y for Diana, the giant would end up using his mouth on her. Just not for consumption. And Diana would not find those uses objectionable in the leasr.

[DocRick]

I had to read this passage three times to figure out what happened and how it tied to the previous passages.......Well played.

[LittleNikki]

The Pool of Wishes, Part V

There were a myriad of emotions flowing across Daryl's face, But there was only one visible on the face of the tiny woman in Daryl's palm: horror.

Daryl could only imagine what the little woman must be feeling.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Daryl whispered to the tiny woman in his softest voice, as he lifted her closer to his face. And Daryl had no intentions of hurting the tiny woman. He was just very curious about her.

In more ways than one.

Daryl grew up a shy boy in a very socially conservative community. So his interactions with the opposite sex were very limited. A couple of years ago, a man named Brandon Bradford started a magazine called Sybarite, which contained articles on different subjects, It also contained pictures of naked women.

Of course you had to be twenty-one to buy a copy of Sybarite. And anyway, they didn't sell that magazine in the local store. You would have to go all the way to Union City to buy one. And even there, they were more diligent about checking identification for purchasing the magazine than they were with buying liquor.

Daryl's knowledge concerning the human female form were nebulous at best. Which only made him even more curious.

And now Daryl had a tiny woman in his hand. A very attractive tiny woman. The thin white outfit she was wearing had been rendered transparent by her time in the water. So she might as well have been nude. Daryl admired the tiny woman's backside for a minute, before reaching carefully with the thumb and finger of his free hand to gently flip the tiny woman on her back.

[DocRick]

Beautiful. You filled in all the missing moments before and after my pictures.

[DocRick]

Little Nikki has moved this story to, and will be continuing it, in the "Stories" section under the title "The Pool of Wishes."